This invention relates generally to the field of commercial web printing apparatus and more particularly to an automatic web handling apparatus monitoring system, particularly suitable for use with a color to color register system, for monitoring press conditions and disturbances and for providing corresponding user defined outputs.
Automated web registration in commercial web printing environments is well known in the prior art. Of particular interest are multi-color printing machines in which successive printing operations are performed in a plurality of colors on a moving web at successive repeat lengths. In such systems it is necessary that the locations on the web at which the successive printing operations are performed have a predetermined relationship to one another. Each printing operation applies a different color in a predetermined pattern to the web superimposed to form a desired multi-color image. To obtain high quality resolution in the final product it is necessary that the patterns printed be precisely aligned. This alignment is referred to as registration.
Automatic measurement and control of registration adjustment is widely used in the prior art to obtain the desired degree of accuracy. In one prior art system utilizing a CCD video camera, a video image of the signature of the web or a portion is acquired and processed by an automatic control system to identify registration marks and their locations. Such systems continuously monitor the printed web as it passes under the camera and can detect various press conditions and disturbances affecting the quality of the printed product long before the press operators are able to detect them. Existing register control systems and other web apparatus do not, however, permit press operators to utilize detected or detectable press conditions by monitoring these press conditions and defining outputs in response thereto.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for utilization in conjunction with a color to color registration system to monitor a printed web to detect press disturbances and provide user defined responses.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a novel and reliable method and apparatus for detecting press conditions and disturbances in which the user may define responses to a preselected set of detected press conditions and disturbances.
Briefly, according to one embodiment of the invention, apparatus is provided for identifying press system disturbances and permitting users to define responses to selected press conditions and disturbances. The apparatus comprises means for detecting a plurality of web handling apparatus conditions (i.e., conditions of apparatus in a web printing system such as web printing presses and auxiliary press apparatus) and means for operator selection of desired web press system conditions from the plurality of press system conditions. In addition, means are provided for operator assignment of desired press system conditions to respective operator selected output ports and for selective operator assignment of corresponding masks to selected assigned conditions as well as means for operator assignment of one of a plurality of output types to each assigned port. Also provided are means for monitoring the assigned conditions and generating the assigned output type on the respective assigned port in response to detection of the respective assigned condition. The generation of the assigned output type on the respective port may be inhibited in response to a corresponding mask assigned to the respective assigned condition.